The present invention pertains to the fortification of flour with vitamins, namely the fortification of flour with riboflavin. Pure riboflavin is a clumpy, dusty, highly electrostatic powder which sticks to and fouls processing equipment, and furthermore tends to bridge and clump during handling. Furthermore, pure riboflavin forms balls when being mixed with the additional ingredients in a typical flour fortification formula. The high flowability of the riboflavin formulation utilized in the present invention permits its substantially uniform intermixture with the remaining ingredients of the fortification formulation.
The closest art known to the inventors includes the following patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,868,180; 3,959,472; 3,962,384; 4,486,435 and European patent application 0,219,276. None of these patents is directed at the use of riboflavin in flour. Rather, these patents are directed at the processing of B vitamins via fluid bed, spray drying, etc. Furthermore, none of these patents describe a riboflavin granulate which has (1) riboflavin content of at least 75 weight percent, as well as (2) less than about 10 weight percent ungranulated pure riboflavin therein.